Sunday Briefing: A Fantastic Sunday For Francisco “Tomatee” Benitez

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May 27, 2019 7 min read Last updated Dec 19, 2019

Uruguay’s Francisco “Tomatee” Benitez enjoyed a super Sunday on May 26 taking down two high stakes tournaments at PokerStars and finishing Day 1 of the $10,300 buy-in SCOOP Main Event as the chip leader.

Benitez has locked up $41,598 from the SCOOP Main Event and is only 30 eliminations away from securing a $1,126,911 prize. The Uruguayan may not have won the most money on May 26, but a brace of victories and this superb run in the SCOOP Main Event make him the player of the weekend for sure.

$2,100 Sunday High Roller at PokerStars

A field of 122 players took part in the $2,100 Sunday High Roller at PokerStars and created a $244,000 prize pool that was shared among the top 15 finishers.

Each of the nine finalists banked $6,584, the sum awarded to Mexico-based British pro Scott “Aggro Santos” Margereson. The Brit was joined on the sidelines by Belarus’ Dmitry “yurasov1990” Yurasov who banked $8,555 and was the last player not to add five-figures to their bankroll.

$11,115 went to Finland’s “EEE27” who was then joined on the rail by Swedish star Johannes “Greenstone25” Korsar, a player with more $12.6 million in online poker tournament winnings.

The remaining players read like a who’s who of online poker. Canada’s Elio “smokrokflock” Fox busted in fifth place for $18,765 with Andrey “ThePateychuk” Pateychuk collecting $24,382 for his fourth place finish.

Third place and $31,679 made its way to Netherlands’ “tinnoemulder” which set up a heads-up clash between Benitez and Dario “Secret_M0d3” Sammartino. The last pair of player struck a deal to lessen the pay jump, meaning Sammartino collected $45,304 for his second place finish and Benitez locked up $49,338.

*reflects a heads-up deal

$1,050 Sunday Supersonic 6-Max PokerStars

After taking down the $2,100 Sunday High Roller, Benitez went on to triumph in the $1,050 Sunday Supersonic to add $47,110 to his Sunday haul.

Again, the six-handed final table was a star studded affair with Rui “RuiNF” Ferreira being the first casualty of the short handed final table, his sixth place seeing his $1,050 investment turn into $10,700.

Ferreira was joined as a spectator first by “MITS 304” of Cyprus and then by David “MissOracle” Yan who walked away with prizes of $14,393 and $19,359 respectively. The penultimate bust out was that of the UK’s “B4NKR0LL3R” who padded their bankroll with a $26,039 prize.

Heads-up was a battle of South America with Uruguay’s Benitez locking horns with Argentina’s Ivan “Negriin” Luca. No deal was struck despite the $12,000 difference in prize money and the hyper-turbo blind structure, so when Benitez eliminated Luca, Luca won $35,024 and Benitez scooped $47,110.

KO Series #52-SHR: $2M Gtd Championship Event at partypoker

Huge prizes were created at partypoker as its $30 million guarantee KO series ended with some Championship Events. One of those events cost $5,200 to enter and had $2 million guaranteed, the KO Series #52-SHR: $2M Gtd Championship Event.

Some 411 entries were processed to ensure the guarantee was hit. Taking full advantage of the juicy prize pool was the British player “COunCILtaX41” who outlasted each and every player in the field to win the $154,502 first place prize plus $204,790 worth of bounties for a total prize worth $359,292!

The champion defeated Kenny “Spacey1891” Hallaert heads-up for the title, resigning the UK-based Belgian to a consolation prize worth a combined $193,378.

With bounties included, the top four finishers won a six-figure prize with fifth placed “Blackswordsman” of Japan netting $99,222. The $100,000+ winners were Aleksei “AS Leshiy” Smirnov, “good-bye-PS” and the top two finishers.

Shout out to Steve “eet_smakelijk” O’Dwyer who crashed out in sixth place for $63,225.

KO Series #53-HR: $1M Gtd Championship Event at partypoker

Latvia’s “rudiqa1” added to their already glowing reputation with a victory in the KO Series #53-HR: $1M Gtd Championship Event, worth a combined $175,729.

The $2,100 buy-in event saw 529 entries processed and a $1,084,450 prize pool created. This was shared half between the top 72 finishers and half among those who eliminated opponents from the tournament.

“ACHSO8000” of Germany collected a combined prize worth $22,349 for their eighth place exit with “WhoIsICM”, the first of two British players to bust from the final table, walking away with $22,231.

Next to bust was “ilushan” of Russia, a finish worth $25,019, with Sweden’s “MOTHERSMATTERS” collecting $38,492 when they ran out of steam in fifth place. It was “good player” of Canada who busted in fourth spot, winning a combined $55,929 before “VolZoK_” of Mexico got their hands on a $56,143 prize after falling in third place.

Latvia’s rudiqa1 and the UK’s “CaptainB” fought heads-up for the title and it was the former who was the last player standing. The British player took home $96,340 in total leaving rudiqa1 to add $175,729 to their bankroll.

$20,000 PKO Whale at 888poker

You can check out our dedicated XL Inferno recap to discover who won the biggest events at 888poker on May 26, but the site also ran its usual Sunday majors, one of which being the $20,000 PKO Whale.

Only 35 players entered this week and four of those won money from the main prize pool. “Ronaldo4112” was the first player to lock up some of that main prize pool money, taking home $1,125 plus $312 worth of bounties.

“Hateeeeem” then crashed out in third place for $1,687 plus an additional $406 worth of bounty payments to leave “OMGPorFavor” and “__APO__1” of Germany to fight it out for the title.

It was the German player who emerged from the battle unscathed, doing so with a combined prize worth $12,605 with the runner-up netting $4,593 in total.

$20,000 Sunday Challenge at 888poker

A guarantee busting prize pool of $22,000 was created as 220 players bought into the $20,000 Sunday Challenge at 888poker. The top six players each turned their $109 investment into four figure with “MAMOHT_T” of Russia being the first to bank $1,100.

Estonia’s “Koletiz” was the next to fall, banking $1,300 before “sweet_dr34ms” of Russia lost their stack during the short handed section of play, falling in fourth place for a $1,925 prize. Third place and $2,585 made its way to Peru where Yoshiaki “Yoshiaki97” Paco busted.

This set up a one-on-one battle between Lithuani’s “Gray8821” and “CrackedAc3s” of Romania. It was the Romanian who came out on top, banking $4,730 and leaving the Lithuanian to net $3,410.

GGS #157: $500K Gtd Super High Roller at Natural8

“NOMAMES” is $178,729 richer than a few hours ago after the Mexico-based grinder won the GGS #157: $500K Gtd Super High Roller at Natural8 for a cool $178,729. The $10,000 buy-in affair attracted a field of 67 entrants but NOMAMES was the last player standing to secure the massive top prize.

Earlier at the final table, “Stevie444” saw their tournament end in ninth-place for $21,339 with Natural8 regular “SasukeUchiha” joining them on the sidelines in eighth place for $27,293. Canada’s “LuckyChewyFan” collected $34,907 for their seventh place finish before “Mr.Fishy” won $44,644 from their home in Malaysia.

Another Canadian in “StacknNvrSlackn” was the fifth place finisher, a result worth $57,099 and yet another Canadian in “Picasso16” fell in fourth place for a $73,028 prize.

Austria’s “FNC_Broxah” then busted in third place for a $93,400 addition to their bankroll, setting up a final clash between “toothpick” and NOMAMES. The latter won the event for $178,729 with the runner-up taking home a still welcomed $119,456.

GGS #151: $750K Gtd Super High Roller at Natural8

The $25,000 buy-in GGS #151: $750K Gtd Super High Roller awarded the largest prize of the day, namely one worth a colossal $475,311 and it was a well-known pro who got their hands on this ridiculous prize.

Andras “PokerBluff1” Nemeth topped a field of 56 entrants to bank the $475,311 top prize. The popular Hungarian defeated “AlfredDelia” of Canada heads-up for the title, with the Canadian returning home with $290,483.

Only seven places were paid and it was the UK’s “EzzzGame” who was the first player to cash, winning $56,950. The Brit was first joined in the role of spectator by “StacknNvrSlackn” who won $78,890 and then by “LuckyChewyFan” whose fifth place bust out was worth $109,282.

Macau’s “ChunLei Zhou” collected $151,381 for their fourth place finish with the penultimate elimination being th at of “HectorHermano” of Canada, a finish worth $209,699.

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Matthew Pitt hails from Leeds, West Yorkshire, in the United Kingdom, and has worked in the poker industry since 2008, and worked for PokerNews since 2010. In September 2010, he became the editor of PokerNews. Matthew stepped away from live reporting duties in 2015, and now concentrates on his role of Senior Editor for the PokerNews.

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